Night Watch

It wouldn’t have been long before Saikaam would return to the three runners, Paris, Hiroshima and Cairn after their break. “It has come for part two of your initiation, Night Watch. You will sit upon one of our various lookout locations and be a lookout for potential threats and danger. This is no light task, fail and you could risk endangering our clan or leaving us open for those thieves out there.”

The three would nod to this request from the Watchers leader. They were no stranger to how these things worked, there were thieves all the same above the underground. Paris wasn’t much of a hunter like Cairn or Hiro, but even she’s had to deal with others taking her well earned coin and items. Hiro and Cairn often had to fend off predators trying to steal their prey or hunt down wanted criminals. Between the three of them, this task wouldn’t pose much issue.

“You are on.” Hiroshima would speak for the group, knowing that they had an advantage with being a group. They could take turns.

Saikaam would lead them further along the pathways, picking a vantage point for the group that was made of wood and overlooking a rather large drop-off. A single crystal cluster lay near the platform, helping to reveal the edge of the drop-off.

“This will be your home for the night. I will be back sometime in the morning to check how you all fared the night.” The purple haedian would say before he would be off, most likely to put others on night-watch as well.

Hiro Cairn and Paris would make their way up to the top of the wooden platform. Each peering over the edge as soon as they could, to judge the distance to the ground below. One could definitely get hurt if they fell from this high up. Each picking a spot to settle into soon enough.

“I’ll take the first watch, then Paris and after Cairn. This sound good to you two?”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Me as well.”

“Alright, then you two get some rest while you can. It feels like it's going to be a long ‘night’.”

Cairn and Paris would each curl up to take their long needed naps. Meanwhile Hiroshima took his place at the edge of the platform, overlooking this section of the caves. It was honestly hard to tell when the haedians considered it night or day down here, it looked relatively the same. But he had to assume it was to do with the subtle brightness changes in the crystals, or perhaps the plants surrounding them. It was hard for him to say exactly.

He did his best to stay up for as long as possible, not seeing a single sign of reosean life on his shift, hardly a bat flew past his head as well. It was quiet, far too quiet for him. When he felt long enough had past he would prod his sister awake.

“It's your turn to watch.” He would yawn, clearly tired and bored.

“Well I hope you get a good rest, you seem like you need it.”

Hiroshima would curl up for his nap, not taking long at all to fall asleep. Paris would move to sit at the edge of the platform. Not much seemed to stirr for her either, a few bats, some lizards crawling along the walls, the occasional flutter of a moth. Even listening with her long ears didn’t prove any danger was out there in the darkness.

Was this simply a test just to see how they fared in the numbing darkness? When nothing at all went wrong, just to test their loyalty? Perhaps so. Perhaps they had the entrances blocked off, and no one would come at all just to test how they handled it.

She would sit there, keeping watch until she felt like long enough had gone by to wake Cairn. The last in their group that needed to keep watch.

“Hey… it's your turn dear..”

Cairn would roll over groaning some before stretching, “I felt like I barely slept at all..”

“But alright…I’m up.”

“I wish you luck.” Paris would say before resting once more.

Cairn would take her place next, watching the dim light of further away crystals flicker. Not a single soul seemed to lurk in these caves but themselves. That is if one didn’t count animals as souls, which she admitted she kind of had to count, as someone who studied the dead.

She would keep her eyes out, and her bear ears moving like dishes. All she noticed much like the others were the many bats they hung above in the ceiling, and the few that fluttered by. Though she would also see firefly-like creatures dancing around the crystals, even more so when they seemed to get a bit brighter.

Paris and Hiro would soon get up from their naps, not seeming to have been able to stay asleep for long. Settling beside the brown runner to finish off their shift. Which they wouldn’t know ended until Saikaam would return to them. He would glide down from who knew where to join them on the platform.

“Good job, you survived the night! Though it looks like you will have to stand watch tonight as well. I’m sure it’ll be nothing for you three. I’ll return at nightfall to show you to your next lookout point.” With that the haedian would leave the three standing there.